My 21st birthday was this Saturday, and the BevMo! near me is having the 5-cent wine sale. Aww yeah it's on now, I can finally (legally) have a glass of wine after work or while I do the dishes or while I binge watch OINTB and eat a big ass bag of Doritos. Trouble is, I don't know shit about wine. 80-90% of the wine I have had in my life so far has come from a box. All I know is I prefer rose or sparkling wines, then white wine, and my last choice is red wine (not that sophisticated yet).
Thankfully, the people over at Wine Folly, a Seattle-based company, know that the world of wine is a little confusing. They have put together a ton of infographics to help you pick a good bottle. Here are my favorites, check out their site for more. You can even buy these infographics as posters!
Thankfully, the people over at Wine Folly, a Seattle-based company, know that the world of wine is a little confusing. They have put together a ton of infographics to help you pick a good bottle. Here are my favorites, check out their site for more. You can even buy these infographics as posters!
Basic Wine Guide
Ain't nothing wrong with being a little basic! This is a great place to start picking your wine. From the appropriate serving glass and temperature to how to pair with food (does this go with Kraft Mac & Cheese?) this infographic is my favorite. It even tells you how long the wine will last once it's opened!
How to choose Wine
After using this flowchart, I will be buying a buttery chardonnay for everyday use, and then a Reisling (can you figure out what path I took?)
The Different types of wine
The big colored circles are the five different types of wine that all wines can be classified into. Dry means it's not gonna be sweet; all the fruit sugars have been fermented into alcohol (higher ABV). A sweet wine will have more of the fruit sugars still intact, and therefore might have a lower ABV content. (I like sweet or semi-sweet wines, dry champagne)
Types of wine glasses
I'm lazy as hell. I own a set of 6 IKEA wine glasses (they were $2 each...) and I drink all wines regardless of type out of those. You don't need crystal stemware unless you answer yes to a majority of these questions (BE HONEST):
This was taken directly from winefolly.com. The author of this article, says this:
"Starting a wine glass collection? Go super basic and get a set of 6 red wine glasses and a set of 4-6 Champagne flutes. Take my word for it; that’s all you really need."
- Do you ever handwash special kitchen tools such as knives?
- Do you have places to store tall wine glasses?
- Do you enjoy a glass of wine almost every night?
- Do you wash your dishes after dinner? (This is why I said be honest)
- Do you take pleasure from cleaning and organizing your kitchen or bathroom?
- Do you have safe areas that are off-limits from kids?
This was taken directly from winefolly.com. The author of this article, says this:
"Starting a wine glass collection? Go super basic and get a set of 6 red wine glasses and a set of 4-6 Champagne flutes. Take my word for it; that’s all you really need."
I hope you found these as helpful and informative as I did, the folks over at Wine Folly have done a kick-ass job of making it easy to know your wine. Check them out before you pop your next cork!